United States President Barack Obama is expected to introduce stricter gun control regulations early next year in the wake of mass shootings across America in 2015.
Media reports from the U.S. say Obama will start his final year in office by imposing harsher gun control regulations through executive order.
The order is expected to come next week, reports Politico Magazine. Gun industry insiders told the magazine the changes will have to do with licences of gun sellers – which would lead to more background checks – as well as tighter rules for reporting lost or stolen guns.
READ MORE: Gun violence by the numbers: How America, Canada and the world compare
White House spokesman Eric Schultz told CNN the president was “expressing urgency” for more action after recent incidents of gun violence in the U.S.
“It is complicated. That’s why it’s taken some time for our policy folks, our lawyers, and our experts to work through this and see what’s possible,” Schultz told CNN.
Stricter licencing for smaller gun sellers will focus on the “gun show loophole,” CNN reports. The loophole allows gun sellers to sell without doing background checks at gun shows and similar events.
Obama has long advocated for more gun control laws, to little avail. In 2012, the deadliest year for gun violence in the U.S., he said he would do everything he could to stem gun violence after 26 kids were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn. There has been no major changes since then.
There have been 42 people killed in gun violence in 2015, including 14 people in San Bernardino earlier this month.
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